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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Blood

Well, the blood came back. Jimmie starting spitting up blood again last Friday. Sometimes it was old clots. Sometimes it was bright red fresh blood. Neither made us happy. Jimmie decided against calling the doctor when it started because he did not want to spend another day at the ER being poked, prodded and photographed with various machines. He also did not want to go to the doctor's office because his oncologist was on vacation last week and that is who he trusts. And Jimmie decided against going off the chemo. That had been the immediate recommendation from the nurse both of the other two times this had started so that's what we expected to hear again. After Jimmie made his decisions that didn't leave me any options except worry.

The blood loss was very small but continued through the weekend, so when we arrived at the doctor's office on Monday for the weekly labs I'm afraid I was a tattletale. The doctor's secretary got very concerned very quickly. Jimmie was not scheduled to see anyone that day, but within minutes he was in an exam room with the nurse practitioner, and minutes after that the doctor, too. But rather than taking Jimmie off of the chemo the doctor thought the blood thinner was probably the problem. Jimmie has been taking daily injections of the highest dosage available as a precaution against the cancer throwing new clots since it had already thrown a few into his lungs. They did testing when he first started this regiment to be sure the dosage was okay, but the doctor thinks it has now become too high. Result? Jimmie is enjoying a short break from the torture shots he hates so has decided he is not annoyed with me after all. And there has not been any blood loss since Sunday night.